Instead of repealing the Affordable Care Act, we would hope that Congress would reform this vital piece of legislation so that it truly is affordable.
As a small business owner, the so-called affordable options offer too little care for too high deductibles, co-payments, and premiums. Let’s make the ACA more like Medicare for all, and re-introduce a public option that truly offers affordable health care. As it is, my low-paid workers have lost their health care subsidy through Mass Health and as their employer, I am covering a larger percentage of their premiums. At least under “Romney Care,” both employees and employers received a subsidy that participation in a company sponsored health insurance that was affordable. This has been lost under the ACA.
Also, small businesses’ rates, based on the ages of their current employees, encourage businesses to fire their older workers whose premiums are excessive.
It’s time to take insurance out of the private sector and give us a REAL national health insurance program modeled on the existing Medicare program.
Leslie DeGraff-Grinnell
Shelburne Falls